As 2024 draws to a close it’s looking less and less likely we’ll get a base iPad refresh – a shame especially after last week’s surprise iPad Mini 7 reveal has left the base model as the only iPad to not get an update this year. The latest rumors now suggest it won’t arrive until 2025.
That means those of you desperate for an update will have to make do with an iPad Mini 7, or upgrade to an iPad Air (2024) or iPad Pro (2024) to get a new Apple tablet in 2024 – or wait a little longer. This is based on reports that Apple iPad display shipments are set to begin this month (via Ross Young in a subscriber-only tweet), which would line up with an early 2025 launch – the same time as when the next MacBook Air is expected.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman backed up these display shipment claims, and – in the latest edition of his Apple newsletter – has said that the iPad “will probably get updated” with Apple Intelligence features sometime next year adding further support to the iPad refresh being on the way. The current iPad model only uses an A14 Bionic chipset, which isn’t set to support Apple Intelligence, so a new model would need to be released to change this hardware deficiency.
This is far from a confirmation, but if the iPhone SE leaks hold true and it gets Apple Intelligence in March 2025 as expected, the iPad would remain the only main Apple product (except for the Apple Watch) to not have a model which supports the Apple AI. It seems unlikely Apple would want to leave it alone in this bucket for too long, so a 2025 refresh feels inevitable.
Why no 2024 refresh?
Unless Apple comes out and explains precisely why a new iPad didn’t launch in 2024 we’ll never know for sure, but Apple Intelligence is likely one key factor.
As we started to highlight above, Apple wants Apple Intelligence to be a major feature of as much of its tech as possible. However, because it needs to rely on as much on-device processing as possible for user privacy reasons the hardware required for the software has to be fairly powerful – limiting it to the most recent A17 and later chipsets.
However the iPad usually lags a little further behind with two year old iPhone Pro chips. That’d mean it would boast an A16, which Apple says doesn’t have the juice to deliver Apple Intelligence – as it has confirmed it’s skipping the base iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro models.
If Apple wants to maintain this release gap and launch an iPad with Apple Intelligence then it can’t do so before 2025. And we know this does all sound rather silly as Apple is sticking to arbitrary limitations it has kinda imposed on itself, but when you also factor in the iPad is designed to be an entry-level gadget (and older tech costs less, helping to achieve that goal) as well as the fact the iPad Mini 7 just launched with an A17 chipset (eating into Apple’s supply) it makes some sense why Apple might want to delay its next iPad launch a little longer.
As with all leaks, rumors and speculation, we should take these details with a pinch of salt. However given the tablet's popularity, an iPad launch is a matter of when, not if. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled over the coming months and year to be ready when a launch finally comes our way.
